Farewell Flower Festival

When Chaoyan returned home, Mu Tianling had not come back yet. She sent Feicui and Amber away and prepared to write a "suicide note". If she didn't survive, at least she could explain the reasons to him in the letter, comfort him, encourage him, and let him live well. Although it might not be of much use, it was better than leaving nothing behind.

As soon as she picked up the brush, she was stuck. She didn't know how to write the first word. After a long while, she finally started writing. She wrote a sentence and then crossed it out with the brush. After considering the wording for a long time, she wrote two more sentences, repeated them to herself for a while and then crossed them out. She felt her mind was a mess and she couldn't think of the most appropriate opening remarks. So she stopped writing for the time being and took out the embroidery frame to continue embroidering.

After a while, Feicui brought Qianfeng over. Qianfeng stood at the door and reported to Chaoyan that Mu Tianling and Captain Yu had something to do and would be back later, so he asked Chaoyan to have dinner first and not wait for him.

……

As the last ray of sunlight sank into the horizon, the gate of the ghost market slowly opened.

The three followed the crowd into the ghost market, taking the same route as last time. Captain Yu took the two to the tavern and went out through the back door. After making many turns, they arrived at his doorstep.

Captain Yu glanced at the person next to Mu Tianling, his expression unable to hide his excitement. Shen Ming nodded, and Captain Yu knocked on the door.

After a while, the door was opened.

Seeing that Captain Yu brought another stranger over, the person who opened the door looked at Shen Ming strangely.

"Second sister," Captain Yu's voice was full of excitement. Xu Ru was shocked when she heard the word "second sister". They had always addressed each other as brother and sister to outsiders, so suddenly hearing the word "second sister" really scared her.

"Let's talk after we go in." Mu Tianling said.

After coming in, Captain Yu couldn't wait to tell Shen Ming's true identity, "Second sister, this is big brother, big brother is not dead!" His face turned red with excitement while speaking, and he didn't know what to say next.

Hearing this, Xu Ru was stunned and stared at Shen Ming in disbelief. It took her a long time to come back to her senses, her eyes still fixed on that face, trying to awaken her long-forgotten memories. Gradually, the outline of that face slowly overlapped with a face in her memory. She still couldn't believe that the person in front of her was her eldest brother. She opened her mouth to ask something, but her throat felt like there was a ball of cotton stuck in it and she didn't know how to start.

"Ru'er." Shen Ming called her in a gentle tone, just like he did when they were little. Familiar memories came flooding back like a tide. Xu Ru's eyes turned red and tears fell like beads from a broken string. Shen Ming clumsily comforted her not to cry, but Xu Ru cried even harder. Captain Yu's eyes also turned red and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

Mu Tianling walked away quietly so as not to disturb the reunion of the three.

After Xu Ru's emotions gradually calmed down, Shen Ming asked about their adoptive father Liu Lei. He wanted to thank him in person. If he hadn't saved the siblings, the three of them would not be reunited now.

"Godfather is out." There was a slight choked nasal tone in Xu Ru's voice, and her eyes were still a little red, but at least the tears had stopped.

Captain Yu asked when she left, and Xu Ru said that she had just missed the three of them before they arrived. Captain Yu said he would go look for them, and buy a jar of good wine to celebrate.

Xu Ru invited Shen Ming and Mu Tianling to come in and sit down, and hurriedly poured tea for them. After all, it was inevitable that the brother and sister would be a little restrained and nervous when they met for the first time after many years.

“Brother, you…?” Xu Ru paused, her expression looking a little more embarrassed.

Shen Ming couldn't guess what the girl was thinking. He mistakenly thought that Xu Ru was afraid of him and didn't dare to speak, so he became a little more nervous.

"How did you escape after the fire in the general's mansion?" Mu Tianling added to the question Xu Ru was about to ask.

Shen Ming looked at Mu Tianling a little strangely. At first he didn't understand why he asked again. Before coming, he told him and Captain Yu what happened at that time. After seeing Xu Ru's eyes eager for an answer, he understood Mu Tianling's intention and repeated it again.

When Liu Lei went to rescue the mother and daughter, the yard had been surrounded by killers. Shen Ming used himself as bait to lure away some of the killers, and finally led the killers into an alley for a desperate fight, but he was still outnumbered. Someone saved him when his life was hanging by a thread, but he quickly lost consciousness after he fell to the ground, and he didn't see who saved him.

When he woke up, he found himself lying on a bed with no windows around him, like a secret room, and the wounds on his body were bandaged. When Shen He came to see him, he knew that the person who saved him was this Xiaoyao King. Later, when Shen He left Beijing, he let him blend in with the accompanying soldiers and left together. After arriving at Dingcheng, Shen He arranged for him to be an orphan on the battlefield and adopted him as his adopted son.

After saying that, Shen Ming also had a question he wanted to ask Xu Ru, but he didn't dare to ask, for fear of a disappointing answer.

Xu Ru noticed this and guessed what Shen Ming wanted to ask. Her eyes dimmed and her hands clutched the dress on her knees. "Mother," she paused, and tears fell again, landing on the back of her hand with a plop, splashing a bitter circle. She choked, "Mother is gone, it's all my fault. If mother hadn't saved me, she wouldn't have..." She choked and couldn't go on.

Shen Ming comforted her, "It's not your fault." He lowered his voice and said, "The one who is at fault is the arsonist, the murderer who wanted to silence the witnesses."

Mu Tianling said: "Zhao Zhong is already dead. He has to kneel down and apologize to his uncle and aunt."

"He deserves to die!" Xu Ru gnashed her teeth in hatred. It was the other party who forced her father to death and sent people to set fire to the general's mansion and killed her mother. It was too easy for him to just die like this.

Xu Ru wanted to ask about overturning the verdict when someone knocked on the door. She went to open the door first and soon heard hurried footsteps.

Liu Lei almost rushed into the house, his steps seemed a little shaky. The moment he saw Shen Ming, he froze in place. When Shen Ming came over and knelt down to kowtow to him, he was held by a pair of weather-beaten hands. Liu Lei told him to get up quickly. Shen Ming insisted on kowtow to him three times, but Liu Lei refused to let him kowtow to him, otherwise he would kowtow back.

Captain Yu and Xu Ru also tried to persuade them. Mu Tianling picked up the jar of good wine that Captain Yu had placed on the table, opened it and smelled it, saying that the wine was good. Xu Ru said that she would go to the kitchen to cook some delicious dishes to celebrate.

......

When Mu Tianling returned home, it was already late at night.

Seeing that the light was still on in the room, Mu Tianling knew that Chaoyan had not yet gone to bed. Her silhouette was reflected on the window, and she was reading a storybook again.

He walked to the window and coughed lightly.

Chaoyan was frightened for a moment, and pretended to be brave enough to ask, "Who's outside?" Mu Tianling smiled and said, "You can't even hear my voice?" Chaoyan was about to open the window, and Mu Tianling said, "I'll go in."

Chao Yan ran over and opened the door. As soon as she saw Mu Tianling, she threw herself into his arms. Then she smelled a faint smell of alcohol. She looked up and asked, "Have you been drinking?" He smiled and said, "Not drunk." She raised a finger and asked, "What time is this?" He gently lifted her chin, his dark eyes exuding a bewitching luster under the slight intoxication of alcohol, and said teasingly, "My Yanyan is so pretty." She blushed and muttered, "Slippery tongue."